Nothing mesmerizes me more than standing on a beach. Waves crash, pushing, then pulling, sheets of water over the shore. When the sun rises or sets, glorious moving reflections of shimmering golds, tangerines, and crimsons leap from the surf. Is there a natural phenomena better than a reflection? What wonder!
You can be around any body of water, and in the right light, you’ll see an impression of an upside down landscape. But it’s so much more than a mere landscape. For what is reflected by water is rarely like a mirror. Water is kinetic, driven by the energy of the sun, the wind, rainfall, and even the moon. And all the waves and ripples create vast moving reflections that are nothing short of inspirational.
Every Claude Monet painting of streams, lakes, and oceans captures the energy of water, sometimes so well even the art springs to life. Reflections are another aspect of Creation that should give one pause. For what we take for granted, that water reflects at all, is another astounding feature of nature. Yes, it bears a scientific explanation, that rays of light ricochet off water. There’s so much more to explain the mechanics of how this works; mathematically, it is described in terms of angles of incidence. Physicists will inspire you with explanations about how light oscillates in electric and magnetic fields. But the bottom line is that reflections make this world an even more beautiful place.
Since Adam and Eve took their first breathtaking glimpse in a pool of water, their visages looking back at them, people have striven to perfect the mirror. It’s a fascinating history, first of metallurgy, as humanity discovered ores and crafted processes to extract elemental metals. It was only matters of time before the application of ingenuity led to polished metals with reflective properties that doubtlessly delighted the first person to discover it. Our modern mirrors were the invention of German chemist Justus von Liebig. In 1835, he created a process to apply metallic silver to the surface of glass through a wet deposition process involving silver nitrate.
The first looking glasses seem to be attributed to the Roman Empire. You might even be surprised that mirrors date back to the book of Job (Job 37:16-19). In history, Job may have lived around the time of Abraham (see “When Did Job Live?“). I Corinthians 13:12 says, “for now we see in a mirror dimly,” giving us the idea that the early mirrors were not as clear as the modern silver on glass ones we have now.
When we gaze at ourselves in mirrors, we see ourselves superficially. We see our appearance, and we use mirrors to groom and primp. But what if I told you there is a mirror that can probe into your soul, that can show you who you really are? That mirror is the Word of God: “for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12-13).
This book, the Bible, is the sharpest, clearest mirror. I would challenge you, that if you want a deep, honest, reflective impression of yourself, don’t look in a mirror. Delve into the pages of God’s Word.
